It is a global institution that attracts visitors from around the world to see art collections spanning epochs and time zones.

But when connoisseurs suggested that the hunt for the next head of the Louvre should be international — for want of a suitable Gallic candidate — officials were aghast.

The idea of appointing a foreigner as chairman of France’s most prestigious museum was described as “not very clever” by a government source, who added that public opinion would baulk at the idea. The reaction illustrates the gulf between a globalised Britain and a French nation anxiously seeking to retain control of